KU Swimmers & Divers Make Splash on Academic All-Big 12 Team

Feb. 21, 2012

Academic All-Big 12 List Get Acrobat Reader

IRVING, Texas – The Academic All-Big 12 Team has been released and it has a distinct Crimson and Blue favor to it, thanks to 13 total Jayhawks who made the list following the fall 2011 semester. The 70-member women’s and 30-member men’s teams were announced by the conference Tuesday, just 24 hours before the Big 12 Championships are set to begin in Columbia, Mo.

Out of the baker’s dozen of KU student athletes, a total of nine earned GPA’s of at least 3.20 or higher, which placed them on the Academic All-Big 12 First team. The remaining four posted grade point averages of at least 3.00 or better, landing them on the conference’s second team.

As a whole, Kansas swimmers and divers comprised nearly 20-percent of the entire women’s first and second teams.

“Our number one team goal each year is what we do in the classroom,” explained Kansas head coach Clark Campbell. “It was a solid semester for us and it reflects how hard our student-athletes work in the classroom.”

This is the second straight spring at least 13 members of the KU swimming and diving team were recognized for their performance outside of the pool. Below is a list of the Jayhawks who made this year’s Academic All-Big 12’s first and second teams.

First Team (GPA 3.20 – 4.00)
Student-Athlete (Yr.) Major Hometown
Christy Cash (Jr.) Accounting Lenexa, Kan.
Shelby Cox (So.) Journalism Little Rock, Ark.
Shannon Garlie (Sr.) Comm. Studies Fort Collins, Colo.
Alyssa Golden (So.) Community Health Portage, Mich.
Sarah Hettenbach (Sr.) Exercise Science Abilene, Kan.
Stephanie Payne (Sr.) Journalism Derby, Kan.
Cora Powers (Jr.) Psychology Olathe, Kan.
Morgan Sharp (So.) Psychology Houston, Texas
Rebecca Swank (Jr.) Marketing Wichita, Kan.

Second Team (GPA 3.00 – 3.19)
Student-Athlete (Yr.) Major Hometown
Brooke Brull (Jr.) Community Health Lake Quivira, Kan.
Malia Johnson (So.) Psychology Scottsdale, Ariz.
Alison Lusk (So.) Chemical Engineering Chattanooga, Tenn.
Sara Snow (So.) Psychology Springfield, Mo.